(Submitted by the Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board)
The Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board (ADAMHS Board) is concluding almost a year of training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). DBT is an effective treatment for people who have multiple problems including suicide, self-harm, substance abuse, eating disorder along with depression, anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The ADAMHS Board selected the Treatment Implementation Collaborative, LLC, a Seattle based training organization that is staffed with internationally recognized experts in DBT to lead the training.
TIC sent trainers to Wood County on five occasions for 3 days each. Leadership from community mental health providers began the training sequence by meeting with TIC trainers to discuss the mental health issues in the area and how DBT can be implemented to help consumers and their families. After the leadership “kickoff” mental health providers attended 12 days of training to learn the treatment, practice with each other and to begin treating consumers. It is was a rigorous training sequence with homework and tests between each part.
DBT is a treatment that believes that suicidal and other behaviors only decrease if the consumer builds a “Life Worth Living.” Consumers in DBT attend 3 ½ hours of treatment a week: 2 ½ hours of a “group” or class where new behaviors are learned and 1 hour of individual psychotherapy where what is learned in group is applied to consumers’ lives.
DBT is known for being one of the first treatments in which psychotherapists provided their consumers with 24/7 access to themselves. Consumers in DBT are encouraged to contact their therapists between sessions for “coaching” in which new behavioral skills to use for specific situations in their lives and to support consumers as they make changes that ultimately decrease and end out of control behavior. DBT has gained in popularity in the mental health field because of its rigorous scientific studies to examine its effectiveness in treating consumers.
The Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board advocates, plans, develops, funds, manages and evaluates community-based mental health and addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Wood County.
To connect to local mental health and addiction services, DIAL 2-1-1 or to get in to contact with the Wood County ADAMHS Board, call (419) 352-8475.
